


Campbell is a jerk, and Dadniel is real

by Scout3516



Series: Big Happy Camp Family [1]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Because I really wanted this fic, Cameron Campbell is a Jerk, Daniel is a good dad, Daniel is forced to adopt Max for a day, Daniel isn't all that bad, Once you get to know him, Parents Day, dadniel, it's funny i swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-11 01:18:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15961622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scout3516/pseuds/Scout3516
Summary: It's parents day and Daniel is back for revenge! But things don't go to plan and before he knows what's happening, Cameron Campbell is threatening his life if he doesn't play along to being Max's dad for the day! What could make this day any worse?How about feelings?!





	Campbell is a jerk, and Dadniel is real

It was as fast as lightning, it happened in a second before everything returned to normal. Or as normal this could possibly be. Daniel stood next to Max, confused and lost at what just transpired, but he knew one thing was certain; if he didn’t comply, he was probably going to be dead by morning. He looked down at the small boy next to him, the horrified look on his face confirmed his thoughts. For the rest of the day, Daniel had to play dad.

He didn’t really know how it happened, he honestly didn’t even know why he was here. That was a big fat lie and he knew it. He came back for revenge, ever since he came to this horrible camp he’s been plagued with negative emotions, which was meant to be impossible for a priest of Zeemuug. He thought maybe if he cleansed the camp, he could go back to being pure. That was kind of a stupid plan now that he thought about it though.

And now he was stuck pretending to be a kid’s parent, and Max of all kids. This must be Zeemuug’s punishment for him being swarmed with negative emotions. Daniel remembered the glare of Campbell as he gave the silent warning of what was going to happen to him if he didn’t obey. Daniel wasn’t an idiot, he knew if he wanted to survive this awful day, he was going to have to get Max to play along at least a little to this whole scenario. With a nervous smile, he looked down at his newly appointed son.

“Well then Max, why don’t you and I have quick chat outside?” He grabbed Max by the shoulder and all but dragged him outside. He didn’t mean to hurt the kid, but right now it didn’t matter. He had to save himself from the clutches of Cameron Campbell. “Come along, son.” The words felt foreign on his tongue, but he forced the urge to gag down. He hated kids, why the hell did he agree to do this again? Right, because the great and almighty Zeemuug demanded sacrifices. He really needed to get control of his thoughts, he couldn’t be sassing his God and his ways.

“What the fuck do you want, cultist?” Daniel rolled his eyes and kneeled down so he was eye level with the little shit of a kid in front of him. Really, he couldn’t blame him for not trusting him, he did try to help everyone ascend when they clearly weren’t ready. With a quick sigh, he decided to be honest with him instead of finding some sorry excuse of a lie.

“Listen, I don’t know if you saw, but Campbell gave me a pretty clear message to be your father for the day or I’m dead. So, I’m willing to make a deal with you.” He paused to see Max’s reaction, he waited until the boy seemed to get his head around it, but before he could continue Max interrupted him.

“Like a deal with the devil?”

“What? No. Not like that at all! I’m not the devil. Fucking hell.” Max seemed to snap to attention after he finished talking, giving a wide stare of what appeared to be awe mixed with confusion. “What, you think just because I look like him, I’m going to act all cheerful and happy all the time? Hell no.” It was obvious that Max was holding back a smile, instead deciding to offer him a glare.

“What do you want then? With the deal?” Daniel smiled, but not his usual fake, overly cheerful smiles, this was more of a smirk than a real smile, but it was a smile nonetheless. He stood up to his full height and dusted off his dirt-free clothes.

“I want to survive this nightmare, so if you help me through today I promise you’ll never see me again, and I’ll never step foot in Camp Campbell after this day.” Max took his time to think about it, looking down at the ground for a minute. Before finally, he nodded in agreement, he offered his hand to shake on it.

“Sure, you’ll probably end up fucking it up before the day’s over anyways.” With that the two entered the mess hall again to see the parents interacting together while Campbell nervously talked to two men who looked like FBI agents. That was not good for him, he was still wanted in this region. He hoped if he ducked his head and they’d be too distracted by Campbell to notice him. “So, you really aren’t some white-washed version of David?” Daniel gagged and shook his head as they found a nice place to sit. 

“That’s somewhat better, I refuse to be related to someone as cheerful as that fucker.” Daniel actually felt himself laugh at that, and genuinely too, when was the last time he’d genuinely laughed?

“I don’t think anybody would like to be related to somebody who’d try to make laundry exciting.”

“Don’t get me fucking started on it! He actually tried to tell a scary story based on laundry once!” The most terrifying thing about that was that it didn’t seem out of character for David, from what Daniel knew of him anyways. He’d only known the man for one day, but their similar looks was disturbing enough, he was fine with being there for one day.

“Oh, and just because I’m helping you, don’t think we’re gonna be all buddy buddy about this. I’m going to make your life a living hell still, dad.” He put emphasis on the word dad, but that didn’t really surprise him. He knew this was going to be an awful day from the start.

“I would be more surprised if you didn’t, you little shit.” He surprised himself with the tone he used, almost sounding fond of the kid. He shook it off though, this was just his punishment from Zeemuug for almost making a giant mistake. He was supposed to be a priest, he shouldn’t be vulnerable to negative emotions, but he was, and this is his punishment.

“Holy shit.” He turned to look at what Max was looking at to see two of the parents flirting with each other, from what he remembered it looked to be Neil and Nikki’s parents. He saw the two kids nearby, Neil looked horrified, but Nikki looked ecstatic. “Imagine what’s going to come out of that mistake.” Daniel looked down at Max and saw the familiar look of scheming in his eyes. And against his greater good, he decided to throw Zeemuug’s rulebook out the window just once, if it meant that he could make Max happy and more willing to help him, he’d do anything.

“Well they’re not going to get anywhere with just flirting.” He stood up and walked over to the two with an innocent smile that he saw his dad wear often. He held out his hand as he introduced himself. “Hi! I’m Daniel, Max’s dad, and can I just say you two make an adorable couple.” His sentence was interrupted with a howl of laughter from Max, and a horrified screech from Neil.

“Oh, we aren’t a couple! I’m Carl, Neil’s dad! And this is Candy, Nikki’s mother, that was her name, right?” A nod from Candy while she was making circles on his chest in a flirting manner. He frowned at the sentence as he tilted his head to make it look like he was surprised.

“You aren’t? Well I’m sorry then! I just assumed because you two get along so well, and how great you look together, you two just looked like a match made in heaven!” The two looked at each other, Candy giving Carl the most seductive look Daniel had ever seen, while Carl was a blushing mess. His work was done. “Well it sure was nice to meet you two! I’ll be on my way though, I wouldn’t want to intrude on anything.”

Daniel quickly walked away, back to Max who was still laughing hard at what just played out. He felt proud at the fact that he got the kid to laugh so hard he looked like he was about to pee himself. He sat himself back down next to the boy, smiling as he watched the rest of the parents look at them oddly. Even though he was supposed to be keeping a low profile, he couldn’t care that much.

He watched as Campbell raced around, trying to defuse the situation by getting everyone outside. Apparently, it was time for the activities to start. Daniel and Max walked outside and watched as everybody else walked off to do their own activities. He followed the boy to the forest’s edge before he realised they weren’t going to any sort of activity around the area.

“So Max, what’s your activity?”

“Fuck that. There’s no way I’m doing anything here, I’m fine with sitting here and just watching.” Daniel didn’t show any emotion as he leant against a tree. He was happy he didn’t have to do any childish sort of activities but at the same time he couldn’t help but feel that there was something he was missing.

“So you just want to sit here all day?” Max hummed to show his affirmation, and Daniel simply shrugged. “And here I thought you’d want to cause more mischief, but if you just want to sit here all day, I’m fine with that.” Zeemuug would not agree with what he was doing, but Zeemuug wouldn’t be able to agree or disagree with anything if he was dead, so he was willing to take the punishments later. What he was really worried about was the fact that he was enjoying making mischief and ruining the day with Max, he was meant to purify people, not the opposite. But here he was.

“You want to ruin this day? What happened to all that ‘if we step out of line I’m dead’ shit?” Daniel sat upright, was he really that selfish? He remembered their conversation, when they first made their deal, and realised how self-centred he was being. Max was probably in just as much danger as he was when it came to Campbell. All the more reason to ruin the day for him, his shoulder-demon whispered to him, he wanted to do this.

“You know what? I do want to ruin Campbell’s day, fuck Campbell, let’s cause some mischief!” They looked over the camp, and saw Space Kid with a guy who looked a lot like Buzz Aldrin. Looking closer, Daniel knew that was definitely the famous astronaut. That had potential to become… problematic. “So, Max, what’s the deal with Space Kid over there?”

“No idea, though David and Gwen had to fake a moon landing for the little shit.” Oh, that was perfect. With his usual fake smile, Daniel walked up to the space fanatics, with Max walking behind him. He looked back to see him smiling, he must know what he was going to do.

“Hey Space Kid, that your dad?” Space Kid looked up at them with wide eyes before giving off a wide smile. He waved casually while giving what Daniel assumed was the kid’s usual welcome of ‘howdy do’ which was honestly kind of cute, but he refused to feel anything as he plotted out how he should put his plan in action.

“Oh no, they couldn’t make it! But my uncle came instead!” Daniel watched as Max’s somewhat evil smirk dimmed into a look of understanding before being replaced with a quick scowl. “He’s so cool! He’s an actual astronaut and everything! He’s helping me build my spaceship right now! Say hi Uncle Buzz!”

“Oh hello! You must be Max’s father, quite the entrance you had there! Though you look nothing like him.” Daniel laughed off the man’s suspicions while patting Max’s hair affectionately. He smiled up at the astronaut, his friendly act on full force.

“Oh, I actually adopted him just a few years back, I knew his parents you see and couldn’t stand the thought of him going to somebody he didn’t know. Right Max?” Max looked up at him with surprise before smiling and nodding, adding to the story in his own overly cheerful act. It was honestly hilarious watching Max smile and act like an actual child. “So, I’m guessing young Space Kid there is in space camp, huh?”

“Oh, yeah! Neil is really into space! Can’t blame the young fella, has it in his genes!” Daniel and Max paused, was that really Space Kid’s name? It had to be, He looked down to Max to see his reaction and was somewhat pleased to see the kid was just as shocked as he was.

“Neil?”

“Yeah! Neil Armstrong Jr!” That… wasn’t as surprising then he originally thought it would be now that he thought about it. Of course Space Kid was Neil Armstrong’s grandson or great-grandson or whatever, nothing in this camp made any sense, up to the point it did, it made sense that Space Kid was related to the first person to step onto the moon.

“Well I’m sure the other Neil here at camp will be over the moon to know that there’s another Neil here.” Pun intended. “Say, didn’t the space camp say they’d send your child to the moon? Did little Neil here end up really going to the moon? That sure would be amazing, wouldn’t it Max?” Said kid smirked up to him and nodded. Saying how cool it was to see the take off. Daniel instantly knew Max had done something to make that day extra special.

“Well, they did do something, but whatever it was, it wasn’t real.” Buzz Aldrin was obviously upset about the whole affair, like Daniel was hoping he’d be. He knew how the astronaut acted towards fake moon landings, so he was hoping that he’d get the right reaction out of the man. “I’d really like to know who was behind that! I know the girl partook in it, but I would never hit a woman.” Daniel smiled down at Max innocently.

“Say, didn’t you tell me something about David helping out with a moon project?” Max looked up at Buzz Aldrin, putting on his child-like innocence act before speaking.

“Yes! He seemed really excited about it too, like he always wanted to fake a moon landing but never had the chance!” Buzz Aldrin looked between them before his faced morphed into one of anger. But before he could say anything, David came bouncing towards them with that big, goofy smile on his face.

“Hello there everybody! How are you doing?” Before anyone could answer though, he was punched right in the face while Buzz shouted about faking a moon landing. Daniel snuck a glance at Campbell who was nervously looking between the incident and the FBI dads. This day was slowly getting better, hell it might even have the chance to be a good day.

The two walked away from space camp before Campbell grew a brain and realised they were behind what happened. They returned to the trees where they were sitting before, and watched as Campbell talked to Buzz and the FBI agents to try and calm them down. All the while Gwen was helping a frowning David while glaring at Daniel and Max.

They didn’t say anything for a while, Max taking to drawing in the dirt with a stick while Daniel played on his phone. He didn’t really know what to do now, as a priest he had to be perfect and pure at all times, but right now, with Max, he felt like he could just be Daniel. And he enjoyed it. With a sigh, he put his phone away and looked over at Max’s artwork. He saw the kid drawing something that looked like a scribbled-out person who looked passed out. Somehow that didn’t settle well with Daniel.

“What now, cult man?”

“I’m sorry, what did you just call me?”

“Cult man? You know, cause you’re a cultist?” Daniel frowned but didn’t say anything. With a sigh, he looked at his phone again, the time read about four in the afternoon, meaning they still had a few hours until the day was over. “So seriously, what’s next? Or was that all you could handle?”

“Please. We were just waiting for the perfect time to strike.” Complete and utter bullshit, but he wasn’t going to tell Max that. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to impress him for some reason, to make him proud. “Which is now.” The two watched as Campbell rushed around, gathering everybody for the supposed ‘grand finale’ of the day.

“And what exactly did you have in mind?” Daniel smiled wickedly down at Max, before pointing his head towards Candy and Carl. The two looked just about ready to jump each other. Daniel and Max shared a look before following the rest to a small stage where they were supposedly watching all the campers progress in their camps. They sat silently, waiting patiently for the perfect time to strike. They sat through Neil and Ered’s performances before Daniel decided to make his move. But as it turned out, Candy and Carl had their own plan in mind.

“Max, look.” The two watched as the parents walked away from the performance, giving off vibes that the two knew was going to bring something hilarious before the day was over. “What do you want to do now then?” The two sat, looking at each other while Space Kid’s performance on different space facts tuned out.

“I dunno.”

“Wait, what are you doing for your performance?” Daniel had only just realised that he didn’t really know what camp Max had signed up for, let alone what he was going to do for his performance. Waiting for his answer, Daniel went over all the camp activities he remembered seeing, Max didn’t seem like he’d be interested in any of them. What was he here for then?

“I dunno.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? Surely you have some sort of idea of what to do. Just do something to do with your camp.” Max glared down at the dirt, listening intently on what Daniel said before he spoke up himself. His attention turned to Daniel as he glared up at him.

“I don’t know! I don’t have a camp! I was never signed up for one! Damn it, Daniel, none of this really matters, and you aren’t my real dad! Lay off!” They stayed silent as Nurf finished whatever the hell he was doing, and Preston’s show started. Daniel looked at Max, worried about what just happened. That was when Candy and Carl were revealed to be fucking on stage.

Daniel and Max looked up at the sight, wide-eyed like everybody else was before the two started bursting out laughing. It felt off to be laughing right after what Max revealed to him, but what was in front of him was probably one of the most hilarious things he’d ever seen. Or he was using it as an excuse to think about what to say.

After Campbell closed the curtain and began rambling on, trying to defuse the situation once again, Daniel had some idea of what to do. He nudged Max to get his attention and urged him to walk with him away from the stage. The two got up and started to walk.

Daniel walked with Max away from the stage and towards the lake. He followed silently, watching as the kid continued to walk, he knew Max was probably close to crying, going off what he saw of his face before they left. They stopped walking when they were far enough so that nobody could hear them. Neither of them said anything for a while, they just stayed by each other, somewhat enjoying the others company, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel fond of Max now. They spent the entire day together as father and son, goofing around and causing trouble. He’d been a priest of Zeemuug for so long, he forgot what it was like to just take a break. They sat down on the dirt, watching the water in front of them sit still before Daniel grew the courage to speak.

“So… you don’t have a camp?” Both of them knew that that wasn’t the question he was really asking though. Daniel knew the signs of abuse, and Max ticked off a lot of them, he was just too blind to see it. But, even if it was only for the day, he was Max’s father. And damn himself if he wasn’t going to be a good one for the kid, he deserved it. Max didn’t say anything for a while but slowly turned to face him.

“I don’t know what you want from me, Daniel.” The statement took him by shock, he didn’t know the answer either though, maybe that was the shocking part. At first, he came for revenge on the camp, specifically David and Max, but then he made that deal and yes it was to save his own skin, but now… what did he want from the kid? “You’re a cult leader, you tried to kill all of us, and now your sitting here trying to be a good dad to me when my real dad is -…” He interrupted himself and held back tears as he turned to look away.

“What is your dad doing?” The question was asked before he could stop himself. He didn’t know why but he just wanted to protect Max, protect him from all the evil in the world and all the negative emotions that plagued him. He had never felt like this before, and it was starting to mess with him. He started feeling negative emotions, which should have been impossible for a priest of Zeemuug. “I know you don’t trust me, and you have every right not to. But I promise you that I’ll be here for you if you want somebody to talk to. And I may not be your real dad, and the day is almost over, but I’m going to do the best I can to make sure my son, biological or not, is safe. Even if that means from your own parents, or me.”

Max didn’t say anything, but from what Daniel could hear, he was crying now. Daniel shifted so that he was properly facing him now, the dirt underneath him messing up his white clothes, but he didn’t mind, not when Max was crying. He didn’t spend a lot of time with the kid, but he knew it must have been pretty bad if he was crying. He took a deep breath, thinking about his next words.

“You don’t have to tell me anything, but I’ll be here if you want to.” Still silence, but soon he felt Max cling to him in a tight hug. He instantly hugged back, and the two stayed like that for a while, Daniel’s mind was racing with thoughts. What was going to happen once the day ended now? He didn’t want to leave the kid here, to only end up being picked up by his parents at the end of it all, but he made a deal. And Daniel always kept his end of a deal.

“My parents…” He sucked in his breath as Max spoke. He made sure not to interrupt, to let the boy think of his next words, no matter how long it took. Back when he used to help kids ascend like wildfire, he’d had to do this a couple of times to help purify the kids, now it all seemed… dirty in his mind. “I don’t want to go into what they did, what they do… but you… you kill people right?” He flinched at the phrasing, in that sense, he did kill people. He’s been stained with people’s blood on his hands, and it shocked him that he was just now seeing it for the first time. Maybe his parent’s lied to him about the wonders of Zeemuug.

“I wouldn’t phrase it like that, but in that sense… I’d have to say yes.” He flinched again at his own words, he’d have to seriously think about his life after today. He watched as Max rubbed his eyes, wiping his tears away. “You don’t want me to… do that to your parents do you?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve only just gotten a conscious.” Max had him there. He was about to say something when he heard shouting and screaming. Max jumped away from Daniel, making it look like the hug never happened. “That never happened.” Daniel chuckled before he stood up and dusted himself off, before offering his hand to his son for the day. They both walked up to the mess hall where they watched Cameron Campbell being arrested.

“Max,” Daniel quickly turned to the kid and knelt down, he was amazed at how quickly he recovered after crying. It looked like he hadn’t been upset at all. “I’m going to have to leave soon, I think I’m already overstayed my welcome here. But I wanted to tell you that I’m going to keep my end of the deal, after I leave you’ll never see me again, but I want you to do one thing for me. Please.”

Max looked hesitant, like he wanted to argue, but he didn’t say anything. He nodded silently, and Daniel let out a shaky breath he wasn’t aware he was holding. With a small smile, he put his hands on Max’s shoulders, to keep his attention.

“Open up to David and Gwen sometime this summer, I know they’re both annoying, and how David can be… well he’s the most cheerful fucker around and that’s got to be the worst thing to live with. But they can help you, better than I can anyways.” He wanted Max to be safe after camp ended, and now that Campbell was gone, he knew that’d be sooner rather than later. The thought of Max going home with his parents terrified him, he wanted to protect the kid, even if that meant from himself.

“But what about you?”

“Max, I drank a cup of poisoned Kool-Aid this summer and survived, I’ll be fine.” Max shook his head, glaring at the dirt, not accepting that answer. “I made a deal with you, that after today you’d never see me again. And I’m going to keep it. Besides, you made it pretty obvious to me that I need to rethink some of my life choices.” Max chuckled dryly at that before looking up.

“I can’t believe I’m about to fucking say this but,” Max brings his hand up in a closed fist, and for a second Daniel thinks he’s going to punch him, but he doesn’t. He holds out the fist, waiting with an almost invisible smile. “I’m going to miss you.”

“Me too.” Daniel brings his own fist to Max’s before standing up and walking away from the camp. Everybody seemed distracted with the commotion of what just happened, so it was easy to sneak away into the forest. He told himself not to look back, but he ended up losing the fight, he looked back and watched as David and Gwen were fussing over Max while he rolled his eyes in annoyance. Daniel smiled before he walked away.

**Author's Note:**

> I really like the idea of Daniel being Max's adoptive dad, but I've only ever seen it through him and David being together. So I wrote the fanfic I wanted to see and hope you all enjoyed it! Anyways, this is going to be part of a small series of oneshots of moments between Max and his future family members! None of them will really be related to each other until the last one, but there might be some references between them. Anyways hope you have a good day/night!


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